Chapter 228 Buying Water Armies

Pei Qian used the "Hardcore Review" account to send a message to "Xiao Hu Reviews."

Two minutes later, Hu Xiao replied.

"Dude, just let me know what you need!"

Pei Qian was a little surprised; this guy was really grinding Aili Island twenty-four hours a day.

Pei Qian sent the message through Aili Island’s private message system, not a social media app.

The fact that this "Xiao Hu Reviews" content creator could reply so quickly meant he was constantly monitoring Aili Island’s private messages.

Of course, it was also possible that he was intensely monitoring multiple websites such as Weibo, forums, and Aili Island simultaneously.

All this to say, that was the attitude a professional content creator should have.

Pei Qian considered his wording slightly.

The System didn't allow buying water armies, probably because, in the System’s view, whether using water armies to create fake negative reviews or fake positive reviews, it was a form of fraud that would affect the average consumer's judgment of a product.

Since the System categorized this behavior as fraud, it definitely couldn't be funded with System funds.

But...

If it wasn't fraud, then could System funds be used?

If I hired a group of people to evaluate the game normally, similar to a paid review, the System shouldn't be able to prohibit that, right?

President Pei was just that good at finding loopholes in the rules.

"Do you guys take custom orders?" Pei Qian asked.

Hu Xiao didn't dare to be negligent and quickly replied, "Of course! Our brothers are all very capable. They're not only experienced, but also know how to adapt. Just tell me what you need, and we'll definitely meet it!"

"Of course, the price might fluctuate slightly, since it's custom work… It's a technical skill after all..."

Since the last incident, Hu Xiao had been paying close attention to this "Hardcore Review" content creator.

This content creator had deep pockets, extremely clever marketing skills, and probably had some unspeakable, complex connection with Fei Huang Workshop.

Hu Xiao was happy to build a good working relationship with him. Maybe he could ask for his help in the future.

Of course, Hu Xiao didn't mind making a little extra money either.

Pei Qian thought for a moment and typed, "Have your brothers play a game, and then give it some reviews based on their first impressions."

Hu Xiao was stunned. "Just like that?"

Pei Qian: "That’s right. Give me a price."

Hu Xiao felt a bit confused. He hurriedly asked, "Dude, let me confirm again, you said, give the evaluation based on the first impression?"

"Just be clear, are you asking our brothers to write good reviews, or bad reviews?"

"I'm afraid I've misunderstood your meaning."

Hu Xiao was a little dizzy. It was the first time he'd seen someone hiring a water army like this.

When you hire a water army to do work, you have to give a clear goal, right?

Brainless hype, mindless criticism, reverse psychology, pretending to be neutral while actually taking sides, elevating one while suppressing another, shifting the target…

These were all things the water army brothers were good at.

But as the client, you had to be clear, right?

There were so many ways to operate, but you didn't say which one to use. What if they messed it up?

Pei Qian: "Just have the brothers experience the game and give their evaluations based on their first impressions. I've made myself very clear."

"Whether it's a good review or a bad review, as long as it’s based on the first impression, that's fine."

"Also, I must emphasize that I am not buying a water army here. I'm just paying some brothers to experience the game and give some opinions about it."

Hu Xiao was speechless for a moment.

You made so many demands to a water army boss and then said, "I'm not buying a water army"???

Bro, we're in a private chat. I won't leak the chat history. You don't have to be so nervous, right?

Hu Xiao was a little confused, but based on the principle of "the customer is always right," he still seriously read what the other party said from beginning to end, and tried to understand it with the most superficial concepts.

"So, you're just purely paying everyone to play the game and then write some reviews."

"As for whether the reviews are good or bad, there are no specific requirements, as long as they're based on the first impression, right?"

Pei Qian: "Right."

Hu Xiao: "Which platforms?"

Pei Qian: "Everywhere, including the official platform, Aili Island, Weibo, forums, etc. You guys can figure it out."

"Just give me a quote."

In any case, he could use System funds, and President Pei instantly became generous.

When it's my own money, I'm cautious; when the System pays, I strike with full force!

After waiting for two minutes, the other side replied.

"Okay, we'll use the price of premium reviews as the base price: 20 yuan for 100 reviews. Of course, on Weibo, we'll carefully consider the content of some of the more popular posts and add some comments and reposts to make it look more realistic."

"In some other places, such as game-related videos on Aili Island, we'll also try to post some highly-liked comments."

"This involves some mixed billing issues. For example, how much a Weibo post with a lot of likes, reposts, and comments should cost will definitely need to be calculated in detail. But don't worry, we're professionals. We'll definitely do a seamless job in this regard, and the price will be as favorable as possible."

"Here's a price list…"

Hu Xiao had just sent the price list when the other side quickly replied.

"Don't make it so complicated. I'm too lazy to calculate."

"Just pay by the head. 300 yuan per person. Organize three or four hundred people for me, and arrange enough work for each person according to the contents of the package."

"It doesn't matter whether the reviews are good or bad, as long as they are evaluated based on the first impression."

"Any questions?"

Hu Xiao was a little dizzy.

Of course, there were no problems. What problems could there be?

You're willing to burn money for fun. Why would I not be happy?

But, why?

What are you trying to achieve by spending this money?

Paying per person was obviously not as cost-effective as directly buying reviews!

Hu Xiao did some quick calculations and knew that at a standard of 300 yuan per person, three or four hundred people would cost over 100,000 yuan.

But the problem was that spending 100,000 yuan was so wasteful!

But then Hu Xiao thought, this "Hardcore Review" dude was so good at marketing. Would he be throwing money away for fun?

There must be a deeper meaning.

So Hu Xiao didn't ask any further questions and nodded directly. "No problem. Don't worry, we'll definitely handle it properly!"

"Wait a moment while I tell my brothers, and I'll get back to you later."

…

After arranging the water army, Pei Qian felt much more at ease.

One hundred thousand yuan was just small money. It could be reimbursed by the System, so he could spend it casually without any major impact.

Pei Qian was well aware that no matter how many water armies he bought, it would be difficult to completely influence public opinion.

Even if hundreds of water army members constantly changed accounts to post reviews, they would still be a minority compared to the tens or hundreds of thousands of players.

Moreover, Pei Qian had the System limiting him, so he couldn't ask these water armies to directly write good or bad reviews. He could only use this roundabout way to have them write reviews based on their first impressions.

Of course, the reason Pei Qian was so confident was that he knew very well that the first impression these water armies would have of *Repent and be Saved* would definitely be very bad!

Just thinking about it, these water armies were definitely not technically skilled players. It was even questionable whether their computers could run *Repent and be Saved*.

These people's gaming experience would definitely be very bad. If they were asked to evaluate *Repent and be Saved* based on their first impressions, how could it be good?

Therefore, Pei Qian perfectly circumvented the System's restrictions, not only hiring a water army and creating a wave of buzz online, but also not spending his own money.

Perfect!

One hundred thousand yuan wasn't much. Pei Qian planned to throw in a little money first to see the effect.

If the effect was very good or there was no effect, then he would continue to throw in money.

If it had the opposite effect… then he would have to stop quickly to cut his losses.

Pei Qian didn't dare to throw in too much money at once, in case it turned out like last time and caused big problems.

Just as he was about to close the chat window, the other side sent another message.

"Dude, we have to buy the game. What about the money for buying the game…"

Pei Qian was speechless. He said he was a professional water army just now?

Did he have to be taught how to buy a game and then refund it?

But then he thought, maybe the other party rarely received such special custom service requests…

When others hired water armies, they would definitely just explain the general remarks, and the water armies only needed to copy and paste or slightly modify them to start working.

Pei Qian hired water armies and even had to have them experience the game themselves.

It seemed like he was making things a little difficult for them.

Pei Qian replied, "It's okay, you can play it for a while and then refund it. If you think it's troublesome, I'll add another 20,000 yuan for your brothers as a hardship fee."

Hu Xiao: "Then thank you, boss! But speaking of which, does this game require high specifications? I'm afraid my brothers' computers won't be able to run it."

Pei Qian: "…"

You're so troublesome!

If it can't run, it can't run. You can just download it and play it, and if the computer lags like crazy, then just give the game a bad review, right?

Or even if you don't download it, you can just give it a cloud review and scold the game, and I won't pursue it, right?

But now that you're asking me this, how am I supposed to answer?

There's no way I can explain it to you in so much detail.

Pei Qian thought for a moment and replied, "I'll add another 20,000 yuan for you to solve this problem yourself. If it really doesn't work, have everyone find a better internet cafe nearby."

Hu Xiao: "Hey, alright! You're generous!"

As expected, money could solve all problems, especially when using System funds.

With everything settled, Pei Qian happily left work.

He was just waiting for the game to be released tomorrow!

…

…

October 1st.

*Repent and be Saved* officially went on sale!

The moment the purchase button became available, countless eagerly waiting players pressed it without hesitation!

However, a small number of players also noticed acutely that there was a line of small print on the game's introduction interface: "No reason to refund within 5 hours."

On other games on the official platform, this line of small print was usually "No reason to refund within 3 hours."

Of course, the very few players who noticed this line of small print only thought that this was another conscientious move by Tengda. They had no idea what dangerous information was hidden behind it.

…

Pengcheng.

Hu Xiao was at home, having just explained this new task to his water army brothers.

Although this task seemed a little illusory, the other party was generous after all. Since enough money was given, there would be no other problems.

Hu Xiao had already arranged the people, and was just waiting for the game to be officially released before starting work.

"Should I also play it and try it out?"

Hu Xiao hadn't had much to do lately.

No manufacturers were looking for him to promote their products, and he didn't want to make videos himself.

Of course, Hu Xiao didn't deign to do the water army work himself, and he didn't care about that little bit of money.

But judging from the situation on the official platform, this game seemed to be quite popular. It should be good to play it casually as a pastime.

Thinking of this, Hu Xiao decided to download the game and play it a little.

"The download installation package is 8 GB?"

"Not bad, I'll download it then."

Although *Repent and be Saved* itself had relatively high computer configuration requirements and the fineness of the art resources was also very high, since the game process wasn't very long and the optimization was good, the installation package was controlled at around 8 GB.

This wasn't a difficult number to accept.

Hu Xiao himself was also a little curious. The other party said to evaluate it based on the first impression.

So, what would everyone's first impression of this game be like?